Sunday, November 18, 2018

Ptahhotep Maxim 30: Opposition

It is like a Shakespearean poem. Written in couplets and sometimes here and there a tercet to break the monotony. The first two couplets discuss behavior toward a boss and then the writer discusses opposition first from a superior and then from one's own wrongdoing. The maxim has thirteen lines.

It says:

Bow your head to your boss,
your overseer from the king's house,
and your house will be set from his property,
and your recompense as it should be.
An opponent as boss is a difficulty:
one lives only while he is lenient;
the shoulder cannot bend because of its stripping.
Don't seize neighbors' houses;
don't appropriate the property of one near you,
lest he complain about you until you are tried.
Resentment is grief for the mind:
if he experiences it, he will be litigant;
it is a difficulty of opposition in a nearby place.

Well duh!

This is shown as an animated GIF rather than a video. These hand drawn things can be a 100 frames and be optimized down to very small file size. The little animation in front has nothing to do with the subject of the maxim. It's just something stupid.



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